SUICIDAL prisoners are being counselled by a Barwell man, who was sentenced to life imprisonment after being found guilty of killing a toddler.

SUICIDAL prisoners are being counselled by a Barwell man, who was sentenced to life imprisonment after being found guilty of killing a toddler.

In the second part of his Hinckley Times prison-cell interview Nick Byard, 49, revealed he has been helping inmates to come to terms with their sentences, as he battles to accept his own life term.

Mr Byard was imprisoned in 2006 for the murder of three-year-old Lisa Jane Pegg.

He has always protested his innocence – and vowed to clear his name in last week’s Hinckley Times.

Within months of being sent to a category A prison, Mr Byard began work as a “listener,” helping fellow inmates who are struggling to cope.

He said: “They hear the words, ‘take them away,’ and for some people that’s the first time that they realise what’s going to happen to them.

“They just don’t comprehend what the next few days, months, and years will be like. And some people self-harm, some people try to take their own life.

“One chap got close to ending it all. I spoke to him over a few weeks, and the last time I saw him he practically jumped on me to give me a hug and say thank you.

“It doesn’t give you something to look forward to, because some of this stuff can be incredibly harrowing, but it does give you some satisfaction.”

One of the key factors that led to Mr Byard’s imprisonment was his prior convictions for several minor offences, and a caution for smacking Lisa Jane. Explaining the incident, he said: “The police were called out, and they asked if I had smacked Lisa Jane. I was honest with them, and admitted that I had.

“The copper asked if I would accept a caution. He said that they had to do something about it, to appease the person who called.

“I said I would accept a caution. It went down on my record as ‘over chastisement.’ I vowed then to never smack Lisa-Jane again – and I never did again. Times were very different back then.

“I remember being at school and getting a right battering for the smallest things. Smacking was socially acceptable back then.”

Mr Byard also claims that the alleged “vicious” attack on Lisa Jane that led to her death would have been almost impossible – because one of his arms was in plaster.

He added: “I am right-handed – and it was my right hand that was in plaster. Surely, if I had lashed out and hit her with this hand, as I am supposed to have, there would have been a lot more marking on Lisa-Jane’s body?

“Also, my hand would have had some tell-tale signs on it, which would have clearly been seen at the time by police officers.”